Cannabis for Cancer: If, Who, When, Why and How

“If there is one medicine you can recommend that will take care of pain, nausea, appetite, sleep, [and] anxiety instead of writing prescriptions for five different medicines that all might interact with each other or the chemotherapy, or whatever cancer treatment the patient is getting, I think it's a useful drug." -Dr. Donald Abrams, M.D. 

Dr. Donald Abrams, M.D. is an integrative oncologist at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of California San Francisco, and was chief of the Hematology-Oncology Division at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital from 2003-2017. He became a fellow in Hematology-Oncology at the UCSF Cancer Research Institute in 1980 during the time the first cases of AIDS were being diagnosed. He was one of the original clinician/investigators to recognize many of the early AIDS-related conditions. He conducted numerous clinical trials investigating conventional as well as complementary therapies in patients with HIV including therapeutic touch, Traditional Chinese Medicine interventions, medicinal mushrooms, medical marijuana and distant healing. It was his work with these patients that brought Dr. Abrams into the world of using cannabis for medicinal purposes. Since completing a Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, Dr. Abrams has been providing Integrative Medicine consultation to people living with and beyond cancer at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. He co-edited the textbook Integrative Oncology with Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D.

Our discussion includes:

• Does cannabis cure cancer?
• Cannabis (also known as Marijuana) key terms and historical context
• Pros and cons of cannabis for cancer patients and survivors
• Symptoms cannabis can be used for
• Optimal methods of consumption
• Is it bad for you or dangerous?
• Research and evidence

See the show notes and links at www.cancercan.blog

“The days of when a doctor says we have to do surgery and that’s it…are over…Patients need to be part of the process.” -Dr. Liau

 

Description: Dr. Linda M. Liau, MD, PhD, MBA is Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and Co-Director of the UCLA Brain Tumor Center. In addition to performing brain surgeries, she works tirelessly in the lab to improve the lives of brain cancer patients, including one of the deadliest cancers: Glioblastoma, the disease that inflicted Senator John McCain, Senator Ted Kennedy, and Major Beau Biden. Dr. Liau is the lead investigator on various novel clinical trials for brain cancer patients, and developed one of the first human applications of a personalized brain tumor vaccine. She is on the editorial boards of several scientific/medical journals and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neuro-Oncology.

 

Our discussion includes:

-How she became a MD, PhD, and MBA

-What motivates her

-How she thinks of her patients

-Second opinions

-Choosing a doctor and treatment team

-Whether to seek treatment at an academic institution

-Immunotherapy and other promising advances

-Combination therapies and clinical trial designs

-Characteristics of long-term survivors

Destry Ramey is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, author, and decades long cancer survivor currently charging forward through her 7th battle with cancer. She has authored 4 children’s books (www.thepugs.com) that I read to my own daughters. Our discussion includes:

 

-What she learned from her career in healthcare that every patient or caregiver should know and apply

-What her dad passed on to her that she has used to battle cancer for decades

-Her motivations and key tools in surviving breast, cervical, and ovarian cancer

-The role dogs continue to play in her journey

Check out the show notes and links at www.cancercan.blog